Leon Panetta

The mind games that telegraph any military strike are simmering along and on the verge of a full boil. David Ignatius, columnist for the Washington Post, is reporting that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a …

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s statement Wednesday that the U.S. plans to hand off all combat missions in Afghanistan sometime in 2013 has triggered howls from hawks who maintain it’s a step down a slippery slope headed to …

Shortly after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s penciled in some details on how he plans to cut $487 billion from the Pentagon budget over the coming decade (yielding a 6.8% increase in dollars spent between 2013 and 2017; a 1.6% cut when inflation is included) you’d have thunk he was a dentist practicing without Novocain.

The new Pew Research Center survey we cited the other day on waning public support for the war in Afghanistan is crammed with lots of interesting data. But this chart stopped us short. It asked the public if cutting the military’s size would reduce its effectiveness.

Last night, President Obama opened his State of the Union address by referencing the sacrifices and courage of America’s military personnel as they return home from combat. The President’s rhetoric was moving, but unfortunately, words are simply words and have not been fully backed up with action that supports America’s …

Less than three weeks ago, Iran’s army chief warned the screen door not to hit the stern of the USS John Stennis as it left the Persian Gulf. “I recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian …

Seems all the bluster about cutting military spending by $1 trillion over the next decade – about 15% — isn’t the hair-on-fire moment that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his congressional allies have been …

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was so busy talking about “red lines” over the weekend, you could be forgiven for thinking he was a hockey player — or a racecar driver. Of course, the defense chief’s red lines dealt with Iran – and it’s worth noting, for those of you keeping score at home – that one red line is far more …

So this is the week where Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is going to give us a peek into where he wants to cut $450 billion in military spending over the coming decade. It’s the lead story in the New York Times Tuesday morning, …